11 Simple Ways To Stop Shopping Cart Abandonment

Shopping cart abandonment is a much bigger problem for businesses selling online than most people think. Reports have stated that average abandonment rates for online stores is 65%, which is high. Obviously anything that can reduce this rate is going to increase sales and help you make more money.

Below is a list of tactics to reduce this number and make more sales. Like the old saying goes, strike while the iron is hot.

– Use live chat. Engaging customers on the checkout page gives you the opportunity to answer any question they have. It also reassures them that there are real people on the other end that will ship their product.

– Provide free shipping and tell them immediately. It makes people feel good, like they are getting a deal.

– One page checkout is mandatory. If you have to do two you can, but one page works much better.

– Offer a wide variety of payment options. You would be surprised how many people use different pay options.

– Use trust colors. Look at some of the big players in online commerce. Blues and orange colors are often used. People are conditioned to click orange buttons at this point, use them.

– Do not make customers register for an account to check out. If you want them to, offer that after the sale has been made.

– Use high quality images on your site and if possible, keep a list of those items that are in the cart in view while customers are checking out. People like to know what exactly they are buying. Knowledge is power.

– Avoid coupon fields if you can help it. This is a controversial one because coupons drive sales. Test with and without a coupon field. We have found that when customers don’t have a coupon and see that field, they leave to find one and a lot of them don’t come back. This is worth testing and looking for a work around like discounting the item on the site instead.

– Email customers a reminder that they have items in their cart and that they are still there. Wishlists and save for later options on the cart can also be a good idea.

– Present customer testimonials on the checkout page above the fold. I like to put them in the right column.

– Use trust and security seals as well as money back guarantees.

This list of 11 ways to reduce shopping cart abandonment can go a long way towards improving performance.

Comments

Hi Eric, I'm a designer, and I use my own shopping cart system as a base for most of my site designs. I often worry about checkout abandonment. Really helpful and informative post. I found your point on colours particularly interesting, its weird how such little touches can have a big impact on your whole checkout process. Thanks so much for sharing, Amy.